MSU’s Childs Named Director of Genomics Core of RTSF

Kevin Childs, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Biology, was appointed director of the Research Technology Support Facility (RTSF) Genomics Core at MSU in April. Childs’ current appointment is part of the Global Impact Initiative.

Childs has more than 20 years of genomics research experience and has provided bioinformatics support to MSU plant science researchers since 2014. Childs’ research in plant science focuses on the annotation of new plant genomes, improving genome annotation procedures and using systems biology as an avenue for insight into how genes influence a plant’s developmental and physiological processes. As the Genomics Core director, Kevin will be responsible for the overall management of the core and will seek to ensure that the core remains current by adopting new relevant techniques and equipment. He will also be available to consult with researchers about their projects.

Before coming to MSU, Childs worked as a bioinformatics engineer at the J. Craig Venter Institute from 2006 to 2008. He also worked as a research scientist in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University.

Research Interests: Annotation of new plant genomes, improvement of genome annotation procedures and comparative genomics.